Summary: While assisting his grandfather on an
excavation in Egypt for their senior class trip, Yuugi and his friends unleash seven
powerful beings from their millennia-long imprisonment. These strange creatures, who
call themselves "darkness", will bring about a series of life-changing events
for the close-knit group of teenagers.

2, 325 words | 2nd draft - 2,509 words

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Yuugi fidgeted as he walked alongside his lover;
trying to come up with a tactful way to bring up the thing he wanted to ask Atem.
The thought had struck him during breakfast and had simply not let go. Mostly
because it was something that he felt had been delayed for far too long. It simply
had to be done. So the small teen decided to start subtly by leading his darkness
through camp in the general direction of their final destination.

Atem, sensing his light's apprehension, gently
prodded the teen for an explanation. Wondering silently what could be bothering the
teen so much.

"Ano, Atem koi . . . You remember how I
mentioned that I live with my Grandpa, right?" he asked, drawing in a calming breath.

Atem nodded.

Yuugi exhaled and smiled nervously,
"Weeeelllll, you see . . . he's also the reason that me and my friends were all able
to go on this trip. `Cause he said it'd be good for our futures and all . . . and
you see . . . he'sheretoo." the amethyst-eyed boy finished in a rush, casting a
worried glance up at his lover.

Blinking crimson eyes in surprise, Atem didn't
quite know what to say to that statement. He knew that eventually he would be
meeting Yuugi's family, but had not expected it to be so soon. As he struggled to
come up with some sort of reply, they were both saved any further awkwardness by a
delighted voice crying out in greeting.

"Yuugi, my boy!"

"Grandpa!" running over to where the
elderly man had just exited his tent, Yuugi leapt onto his grandfather, hugging him with
all four limbs (1).

"Have you and your friends been having
fun?" he asked the exuberant teen, after Yuugi let go of course.

"Uhn!" Yuugi nodded vigorously,
"Probably not as much fun as you though!" he stated, knowing his grandfather's
passion for archaeology. "Pegasus-san has had us doing all kinds of cool stuff
and look-!" he held the Sennen puzzle up to his Grandfather's gaze. "I
finished this a couple nights ago!"

"There's nothing you can't solve is
there?" Sugoroku said proudly, admiring both the puzzle's craftsmanship and his
grandson's hard work. Catching the teenager's eyes he noticed the boy's bright grin
had faded into a shy, nervous smile, "Is something wrong Yuugi?"

Shaking his head and taking a deep breath, Yuugi
decided to plunge in headfirst, "I brought someone over here to meet you," he
said, scuffing at the ground with one foot.

One gray eyebrow raised as the elderly man
regarded his grandson, "Oh? Did you make a new friend?"

"Ah, something like that," the teen
replied softly, gesturing for Atem to come over, unaware that his mate had been staring at
his grandfather in mute shock the whole time.

"bw-nfr duat i per-Aa (2)!"
Sugoroku greeted the now dumbstruck darkness and shocking Yuugi in the process.

"Siamun?" the crimson-eyed teen
whispered in shocked disbelief.

Sugoroku nodded and gestured for both boys to
follow him back inside, this was a conversation best kept private. Once they were
inside, Atem cast the same sound spell he had just a few days ago before anyone dared to
speak.

Staring at the reincarnation of the man who had
helped raise him and the one who had introduced him to his precious light for the first
time, he found himself struggling to say something, anything. Finally, the young
pharaoh managed to ask, "How . . ?"

Sitting down and making himself comfortable, the
elder Mutou gestured for the two teens to do the same before beginning his
explanation. "From the time I was a teenager, I had dreamt of Egypt. The
memories and events of a life once lived slowly unfolding every night in my mind, weaving
a long and eventful tale that ended in tragedy.

I put these memories aside and tried to live my
life normally . . . until history tragically repeated itself and I was once again left
with the responsibility of naming and raising my only grandson. From the moment I
first held him, I recognized his bright soul immediately and named him "Yuugi",
the Japanese equivalent of "Heba".

Not knowing why I had been blessed in such a way,
I believed it to be a sign from the gods. You see, in my earlier research I had come
across the legend of the Sennen items and knew that all of you were still sealed
away. I felt that Yuugi's rebirth signaled the coming of the time when you would
finally be released. A belief that increased greatly when I started meeting Yuugi's
friends from school, it was quite a shock to see so many familiar faces once again!

When I learned of Pegasus' search I arranged to
meet him. Once I had, I realized that he and his wife were kkwy and akhu,
which was the very reason he began his own search and so I chose to assist him as much as
possible. Then, when he found all the items, I helped to arrange things so that all
of the reincarnated akhu and ms-n hwi would come on this trip."

"You knew this whole time and you didn't
tell me?" Yuugi exclaimed indignantly, pouting and crossing his arms sulkily.

"Would you have believed me?" the old
man countered, knowing the teen's answer without even asking.

Grumbling to himself, Yuugi didn't dignify the
other with a reply, he couldn't believe his grandfather! His internal rant and
outward sulking cutting off when he felt the flow of calming emotions coming from his mate
as Atem picked him up and placed him in his lap to help soothe his ire. Wrapping his
arms around the smaller teen, the former pharaoh pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek then
buried his face in Yuugi's spiky, magenta-tipped, black locks.

Yuugi squeaked and attempted to protest,
((Atem! We haven't told Grandpa about us yet!))

((Beloved, he remembers his life as Siamun and he
brought you here to find me. In your first life, he brought you to meet me on the
day you were born, knowing that you were my light. I'm sure he already knows about
us.))

Blinking in surprise at his mate's explanation,
Yuugi turned to look at his grandfather, relieved to see that his darkness was
right: His grandfather didn't look the least bit surprised. If anything he
looked rather pleased at seeing them together. Sighing in defeat, Yuugi snuggled
comfortably into Atem's embrace, "Anything else I should know that you haven't told
me?"

Sugoroku laughed.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

((Soon, antyw akhu . . .))

Walking next to Malik, Ryou stopped suddenly, his
head whipping around as though he was trying to find something . . . 'It's that voice
again!'

"Something the matter, Ryou?" Malik
asked, when he noticed the other teen had stopped.

Shaking his head, Ryou smiled at the
lavender-eyed Egyptian. "No. I just thought I heard someone."

Malik blinked at Ryou in confusion, "I
didn't hear anything."

"It's nothing, it must be my
imagination," Ryou replied, walking after the other teen.

Concerned for his friend, Malik gave him a level
stare, "Have you been getting enough sleep lately?"

"Yeah. I have been having some weird
dreams though lately," the silver-haired teen admitted.

"Weird like possible past life kind of weird
or weird like swimming pool filled with chocolate pudding weird?" Malik asked
seriously, getting an odd look from the brown-eyed teen.

"You've dreamed of a swimming pool filled
with chocolate pudding?" Ryou asked in return, one silver eyebrow raised at the other
boy.

"Maaaayyybe," the tanned teen drawled,
grinning mischievously at the other teen. "Whether I have or haven't doesn't
answer my question about you though."

"Possible past life," Ryou answered,
his expression going distant. "In the dreams, I'm never older than maybe eight
years-old and they always take place either in an ancient Egyptian palace or the town and
land around it . . . the really odd thing is that there are people with wings and people
who can do magic. Some of them are people I know now and I've even seen someone that
looks like a younger version of you, Malik-kun. But the person I remember the most,
the one my dream-self is always happiest to see is so . . dark. He's taller than I
am and has jagged cut, shoulder-length silver hair, narrow russet eyes, and a scar on the
right side of his face that has a long vertical slash, with two horizontal lines across it
and he's also almost always wearing a dark red coat."

"Does he have wings too?"

"Yeah," Ryou stated breathily,
"They're beautiful, huge, black bat wings, with a silver shine along the bottom
edge. And he's just so strong and clever and kami is he gorgeous!"

Malik started snickering at his Japanese friend,
"Sounds like you're falling in love with this guy," he teased.

Sighing dramatically, Ryou shook his head sadly.
"I swear there's just no justice in the world, Malik-kun. If there was
this guy would be real and not some figment of my imagination."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

In spite of what he'd said to Malik, Ryou didn't
think the voice he'd heard was in his head. Okay, so technically it was in his head,
but he knew he wasn't going crazy and he didn't think that he was imagining things
either. He'd heard that same husky voice twice before since they'd arrived here:
the first time was when he had been sitting on the rock outcropping outside of camp
and the second time was when Pegasus gave him the Sennen Ring. That time the voice
had said 'I've been waiting for you, little light.' and was a bit louder than the first
time. But this last time . . . this last time, the voice had been so loud that Ryou
was sure the man was standing right next to him!

Feeling a familiar, strange prickling at the back
of his neck, Ryou turned around to look and once again, no one was there.
'Argh! This is getting ridiculous!' he thought to himself, shaking his head in
frustration. This weird feeling of being watched had been going on all day!
Everywhere he went; he felt those eyes on him but could never spot anyone who might be a
likely culprit. His only respite had been when he'd gone to use the restroom but
that had ended the instant he was back outside.

He probably should have told someone about it,
whether they believed him or not. Strangely enough, he didn't feel threatened by the
presence at all. If anything, he felt comfortable around it and just wanted whoever
or whatever it was to come out and face him directly!

((Heh. Heh. Heh.))

"Oh for Heaven's sake!" the boy
exclaimed in frustration, startling the workers nearby. Blushing in embarrassment,
the teen ducked his head and muttered an apology as he quickly exited the wall-less
cleaning tent to go collect the next batch of items. 'Great, just great,' he thought
to himself, 'now every one's going to thing I'm a complete nut case!' Ryou thought
venomously scowling in irritation, although with his face it looked more like he was
pouting. 'I hope you're pleased with yourself,' he growled mentally, hoping that his
stalker could hear him.

'Oh I am little light, I am.'

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

'Oh I am little light, I am,' Bakura thought to
himself, indeed feeling quite pleased with himself. He'd been following his
beautiful hikari around the camp since that morning while managing to avoid the boy's
detection at the same time. To his immense delight, his light was aware of his
presence, but was still unable to actually find him.

From the moment his gentle Rasui had arrived at
the camp, Bakura had known he was there. In fact it was the very presence of his
light that had awakened him from his three millennia-long slumber. Twice before he
was released, the ancient infiltrator had managed to speak to his light fleetingly, but
had been far too weak to maintain contact with him.

When he had been released earlier that morning,
Bakura had had to fight the urge to run off immediately and fetch his light. By the
time the others had finished explaining their current situation, he was glad he had
remained. Like Dartz, he too had gone into his prison with the knowledge that his
light was dead, although he had the slight advantage of not having formed a complete bond
with his young akhu. Learning that three thousand years had passed since
their imprisonment had been quite a shock, but like the others, Bakura felt reassured by
the very presence of his reincarnated light, one who was now old enough to complete the
bond they were robbed of so long ago.

After a final warning from his Pharaoh not to
make a scene or let anyone outside of those assembled, other than his light, know that he
was anything but human; the others had dispersed, leaving the spy to his own devices.

Tucking in his wings and heading out into the
camp, Bakura had quickly tracked down his light and began to simply observe the boy.
He wasn't surprised to find him spending most of his time with Marik's light, something
they had done frequently as children, and couldn't resist teasing the teen just a
little. Following his light, he also observed Atem and Dartz, the great Pharaoh of
Khemet and the King of Atlantis, performing menial tasks and physical labor along side
their lights had been quite shocked at first, but he supposed he shouldn't have been
surprised. They were, after all, pretending to be normal humans there to assist in
this "dig" and by joining their lights in the work, could protect and keep close
to them at the same time.

Later, when Ryou was heading out to learn his
task for the day, Bakura couldn't resist speaking with him. ((Soon, antyw akhu
. . .)) he had sent to the boy, watching with amusement as the teen's head jerked around
trying to locate him. Watching the boy's flustered and annoyed reactions was far too
entertaining. Of course, he was further rewarded for his tailing efforts when he
heard the slender teen admit that not only had he been dreaming of his past, but that he
found Bakura attractive! That tidbit of information alone made his very spirit
lighter and his entire being even more eager to complete their bond.

As the day progressed, the darkness continued to
follow his light around, at one point allowing a bit of laughter to bleed through to the
shorter and now very frustrated, male. Deciding to give the teen some peace he went
silent, simply drinking in the vision of his light and as was the nature of his
profession, absorbing any and all information he could. As night fell, the tall
darkness was ready to reveal himself to his light and slipped away to the boy's tent to
prepare for the teen's arrival.

November 27, 2008
-edited May 26, 2009

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

1 - Yuugi Mutou the human suction cup!
He did it in Capsule Monsters, he can do it here.